Russ Jolley trail - Kueffler Rd. to Duncan Creek

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Don Nelsen
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Russ Jolley trail - Kueffler Rd. to Duncan Creek

Post by Don Nelsen » May 25th, 2011, 3:10 pm

Russ Jolley was involved in building many trails and unfortunately, many have fallen into disrepair over the years. The one up in the Horsetail Creek canyon is a good example of one rediscovered, publicized and brought back into use through the efforts of a few folks willing to move a few branches and clear a few fallen trees out of the way. Here is a short story about another I hiked a few days ago across the river on the Washington side.

This trail needed a little re-routing and still needs a bridge and some more work to make it a viable all-weather route. With a little work paying attention to the flagging and a pair of river shoes to get you across the creek it can be followed all the way from Kueffler Road to a parking area/turnaround on Duncan Creek Road.

Here is the map:

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New spring growth makes it hard to spot in a few sections but the flags lead the way.

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Some of the route is easy to follow.

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Some great waterfall views at the first stream crossing. This crossing should get easier as the season progresses but last weekend even with river shoes on it was a bit slippery.

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Russ’s original trail went along an old logging grade a little to the west of Duncan creek but a little re-routing has been done to allow following the creek with views of the many waterfalls. Here are a couple of shots of a nice slide falls only a few hundred feet downstream from Railcar Falls. The photos don't do justice to this one - it's a pretty nice falls.

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Here is a set of four nice falls - hard to get a good photo, though.

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In low water, you can cross Duncan Creek to a good trail back to the parking area but with the water high it’s best to take an alternate route exiting to the road to the west of the creek only a couple hundred feet to the west of the parking area. The map shows that route.

5.1 miles and about 1,400 vertical going east to west. about 1,900 vertical going the other way.

-Don
Last edited by Don Nelsen on May 26th, 2011, 2:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller


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Re: Russ Jolley trail - Kueffler Rd. to Duncan Creek

Post by [email protected] » May 26th, 2011, 6:35 am

Great idea for a hike and beautiful area - thanks for bringing this back to light!

mandrake
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Re: Russ Jolley trail - Kueffler Rd. to Duncan Creek

Post by mandrake » May 26th, 2011, 11:15 am

Awesome job there Don! I'd heard rumors of a trail in the area, but never knew where it was at. I was up exploring around Duncan Creek a few years ago and found what might be a continuation of the tread westward from your route. It curved up into some high points above Duncan Creek to the west and then southward to meet the Archer Mtn powerline road in the vicinity of Cynthia Falls. I don't have a GPS track unfortunately, but here's a rough map of where it was at. I remember the route being pretty good from Duncan Creek just up to the high points. There the route intersected a number of logging roads and became a bit confusing. I went with my best guess the route climbed up to the top of the high points for a view and kept finding flagging. Might have been a bit of a view once, but it was largely overgrown. I hiked back down the powerline road to my car.
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Don Nelsen
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Re: Russ Jolley trail - Kueffler Rd. to Duncan Creek

Post by Don Nelsen » May 26th, 2011, 3:22 pm

Alex and Tom - thanks for the compliments!

Mandrake - pretty good map, and you are correct about a route in that area. Here is another map that shows where it is, more or less from the info I've got. (In yellow on the map) I intend to hike it in the next few days to get a good track on it. I might do a little exploring Sunday, time permitting, since I'll be hiking Archer that day.

Don

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"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

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CuriousGorgeGuide
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Re: Russ Jolley trail - Kueffler Rd. to Duncan Creek

Post by CuriousGorgeGuide » May 26th, 2011, 6:33 pm

Don, you're The Man!!

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